Quote: "Caccamo said while he doesn’t expect Wynne to tear up the contracts forced upon teachers that took away a number of perks, including the right to bank sick days through to retirement, there are ways for former premier Dalton McGuinty’s replacement to reach out and show there’s a new attitude toward teachers at Queen’s Park.

There are plenty of localized issues that the education minister could allows boards to individually negotiate, and plenty of potential candidates who would allow it to happen, he added."

That bit surprised me a bit (the part about a deal maybe happening even if W. doesn't tear up the contracts).

Rick Bartolucci announced today he is retiring from politics. He has asked Wynne not to consider him for any Ministry postings. Possibly opens up Ministry of Development and Mines to Orazietti. Sudbury is a sure thing now for the NDP. Bartolucci will remain the MPP for Sudbury until the next election.

The media keep saying "Canada first openly gay premier." Really, how non-open was Dick Hatfield? It was not only well-known, it was often mentioned in the media. Are you only out of the closet if you talk about it publicly?

Actually, according to the pollster, any gain by the Liberals is within the margin of error, so in fact they didn't gain. One could suggest that without any leadership bounce, the Libs are at bigger risk.

For the PC Hudak crew, it's worse. He's been putting out policy papers and making lots of public appearance and their numbers have not really bounced.

The pollster noted that who is the winner is Horwath whose leadership numbers far acceed the other two again, and also positioning the NDP on popular issues.

I just listened to her new Education Minister on CBC Radio Metro Morning (Toronto), claiming that Bill 115 was really Mike Harris's fault.

And she was all, yes, we imposed the contract and we're not opening the contract again. I'm focused on thinking of the children and getting extra-curriculars back. And we'll talk about how we can do collective bargaining in the future so that we don't have to take measures like Bill 115 again.

"I know I robbed you at knife point, but I had to do it, and I'm not going to give back anything I took from you. I'm not sorry, but as a gesture of good faith, I threw the knife away. And I'd like to talk with you about how we can negotiate you giving me whatever I want in future without me having to go get another knife. Now, after such a generous gesture on my part, can we talk about you babysitting my kids for free? What, you don't want to? Come on, don't take your anger at me out on my kids!"

"I know I beat you up, but I had to do it. Let's meet and discuss how you can obey me in future without me having to beat you up. But the important thing now is that you start cooking supper again every night. Do it for the kids."

Yeah. Sandals is not looking good. Also, I don't want to sound pretentious or anything, but she does sound ill-formed and basically unintelligent. This is simply my perception. Not sure why Wynne went with her. I think she Wynne should have put Matthews in education.

I just listened to her new Education Minister on CBC Radio Metro Morning (Toronto), claiming that Bill 115 was really Mike Harris's fault.

And she was all, yes, we imposed the contract and we're not opening the contract again. I'm focused on thinking of the children and getting extra-curriculars back. And we'll talk about how we can do collective bargaining in the future so that we don't have to take measures like Bill 115 again.

"I know I robbed you at knife point, but I had to do it, and I'm not going to give back anything I took from you. I'm not sorry, but as a gesture of good faith, I threw the knife away. And I'd like to talk with you about how we can negotiate you giving me whatever I want in future without me having to go get another knife. Now, after such a generous gesture on my part, can we talk about you babysitting my kids for free? What, you don't want to? Come on, don't take your anger at me out on my kids!"

"I know I beat you up, but I had to do it. Let's meet and discuss how you can obey me in future without me having to beat you up. But the important thing now is that you start cooking supper again every night. Do it for the kids."

So Sandal's blamed Harris. That is so wrong on so many different levels starting with "taking responsibility" for your own govt actions.

Sadly when I hear anyone suggest the idea that you made me do it, I didn't want to but in the future if you don't want this to happen again, this is the way you need to act, just reminds me of spouse abuse - "you made me hit you".

And it's a great rant, and agree it needs to be placed in the hall of fame.

Same explanation in both cases. The Liberals were reduced to only one semi-rural riding, and even it is doubtful: Glengarry - Prescott - Russell, held by rookie MPP Grant Crack: 43% many small urban centres including Rockland, Hawkesbury, Embrun, Casselman, and Crack’s home town of Alexandria, 30% other Ottawa suburban areas, and only 27% really rural. But it's rural enough that Grant Crack is Parliamentary Assistant to Jeff Leal. After all, Crack used to manage a Husqvarna dealership, selling lawnmowers. Isn't that rural?

Who is the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and Premier? No one!??

Interesting cabinet. Ten new ministers. She must have set a quota. How else to explain why Margarett Best was dropped for Michael Coteau? Call it "churning the caucus." The ten "rookie" ministers include Mario Sergio, an MPP since 1995, who at age 72 has finally made cabinet. Like "Rookie" Jeff Leal who finally makes it into cabinet after 10 years as an MPP. But Wynne had only seven rookie MPPs to work with, slim pickings. Three in cabinet, four not. Three men: Michael Coteau, Grant Crack and Steven Del Duca. Four women: Teresa Piruzza from Windsor, Tracy MacCharles from Pickering, Soo Wong, and Dipika Damerla.

However, one point for Wynne: a streamlined P & P: Wynne, Deputy Premier, House Leader, Finance Minister.

Sadly when I hear anyone suggest the idea that you made me do it, I didn't want to but in the future if you don't want this to happen again, this is the way you need to act, just reminds me of spouse abuse - "you made me hit you".

And it's a great rant, and agree it needs to be placed in the hall of fame.

Thanks. You should have heard me yesterday morning when listening to the radio - this was restrained. My language was a lot more colourful in person (just ask radiorahim), but I didn't want to post exactly what I was saying because I didn't want to trigger anyone who might have lived through spousal abuse.

But yes, that's the first thing that comes to my mind every time I hear these jokers talking about Bill 115 and claiming that the teachers somehow made the Liberals take away their rights. Yes I did it, you made me do it, I'm sorry enough to get rid of the weapon I used against you, but not sorry enough to make concrete amends. And now I want to talk about how you can obey me in future without me having to go get another weapon, and now that I've offered you such a nice gesture, when are you going to start doing me favours again?

As a woman who has experienced and seen friends and family live through these kind of abusive (physical and/or emotional) relationship dynamics, hearing people excuse their unacceptable oppressive behaviour towards others with "you made me do it" immediately makes me think about abusive spouses.

I love it when news outlets post the results of their online polls as if they mean anything at all. Congrats, ONDP, you won the freeping award of the day. That's basically all any online poll means, no matter who wins it.

"It's not easy being a woman in politics - even when you're the Premier of a Canadian province.

Follow along as we share some upsetting examples of continued sexism in Canadian politics."

So far I only see Wynne, Clark and Redford on here. Not surprising as the site was posted by a BC Liberal. Nonetheless we can all deplore misogyny and express a desire for the political conversation to focus on actual substance.

I love it when news outlets post the results of their online polls as if they mean anything at all. Congrats, ONDP, you won the freeping award of the day. That's basically all any online poll means, no matter who wins it.

The best part was reading the comments by their posters as their heads are exploding in seeing Andrea out a head and by far. I guess some Conservative types just can't give Tim a boost in leader category.

The Abacus CEO's comment on his firm's polling results suggest that the Cons and Libs have problems.

'Most troubling for the Ontario Liberals remains their weakness outside of the Toronto area,' said Coletto, Abacus CEO. 'While the Liberal vote may be more efficient, it will be difficult for them to retain even a minority government without improving in the 905 region around Toronto.'

'But this poll is not great news for Tim Hudak and the Progressive Conservatives either,' said Coletto. 'Despite what has been a very bruising year for the McGuinty government, the PCs have not managed to increase their support beyond their 2011 election showing.' "

So, the Ontario Liberal government is hoping people will donate their tax refunds to paying down the province's debt. Meanwhile, they refuse to raise corporate taxes. Idiocy.

Quote:

“It’s an unusual thing for someone to do, but I would encourage any Ontarian who wants to make a contribution to feel free to do so,” said Deb Matthews, deputy premier to Kathleen Wynne and chair of the government’s treasury board.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government would have an easier time slaying the deficit and debt if it reversed cuts to corporate tax rates.

Nora Loreto writes of the recent announcement by the Wynne Liberals of their intent to move toward "free tuition" for students from households of income of $50G or less. Tuitions will be raised to the max, but then grants will cover this (if I read correctly). She suspects it's a front for the government's wish to privatize post-secondary education. There's a CBC article about it here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-budget-tuition-college-uni...

That seems to be the shiny bauble in this budget. DiNovo writes that "The truth of the #onpoli Budget is flatlined spending or cuts to spending. Everything else is spin". I'm not sure myself what to think. The tuition promise sounds good, but like Loreto, I'm skeptical.

it sounds too good to be true. Does anyone really know if the free college is avaliable for someone who already went to university and got a degree? or just for first time students?And is it really starting this coming September?

I read that it's to start in 2017. I don't think it's retroactively available. link

Quote:

Under the Ontario Student Grant, 90 per cent of college students from low-income families would get more than $2,768 for their education, which the government says is the average college tuition.

Seventy per cent of university students would receive grants in excess of the average university tuition of $6,160, according to the province.

The province plans to eliminate all of the grants offered by the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and funnel that money into the OSG to pay for it. Students, however, will still need to contribute the $3,000 required by OSAP and will no longer be able to claim tuition and education costs on their taxes.

The actual size of the grant for a particular student will depend on multiple factors, like whether they are living at home or away and the size of their family.

The government expects to dish out $1.3 billion in grants in 2017, the first year students will be eligible for the money. No student will get less money than they would under the current Ontario Tuition Grant program, the province says.

It could mean an increase in applications. But most universities are used to having more applicants than they can reasonably admit, and so the rest are rejected or placed on a waiting list.

In the program that I completed last time I went to university, there were 11 applicants for each student accepted. One gets the "We are pleased to inform you ..." letter and ten get the "We regret to inform you ..." letter.

I don't understand how anyone here could think good would come from anything Wynne will do.

50K for a household is not that much and it sounds like anyone over that will pay a lot more.

I don't understand why the NDP can't win in Ontario.

"I don't understand why the NDP can't win in Ontario." Well, you should have seen the last election platform the ONDP served up: a centrist campaign chock full of disjointed proposals that never amounted to a coherent message. The result: it collapsed like a house of cards.

Of course, the federal party was so impressed, they decided to run the same campaign. Slow learners, we New Democrats are. Unless the party undergoes a complete re-thinking, we'll have the same future as the Social Credit Party. We'll just plod along until we simply run out of gas.